


aim high

by Mamichigo



Series: tumblr/twitter requests [18]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Best Friends, First Kiss, Fluff, Light-Hearted, M/M, Teenage Dorks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:23:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22830895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mamichigo/pseuds/Mamichigo
Summary: Some revelations come in the form of fortune cookies
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: tumblr/twitter requests [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1352560
Comments: 17
Kudos: 78





	aim high

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fireborn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fireborn/gifts).



> This is a super late Valentine's gift to Anna. No one look at me, I got consumed by Zelda
> 
> PS: a big thank you my best friend for pointing out that my fortune in the cookie I ate would make a good fanfic. I love you and you're the best

It came at him all at once in a Chinese restaurant somewhere in San Fransokyo.

While Sora demolished his food like he hadn't eaten for an entire month, Riku kept fiddling with his chopsticks and gazing into his bowl of noodles like it held all of the answers he was searching for. The moment he glanced up, Sora offered a jerky nod of encouragement, too busy trying to swallow down his too big bite to say anything. Thankfully, it seemed to be enough for Riku, who finally took a polite amount of noodles and sucked it into his mouth without ever making slurping noises. It was almost irritating how Rikue managed to be perfect at the smallest of things, but Sora was well past begrudging him for it.

Despite Sora's constant support, Riku still seemed hesitant. It didn't take long for him to set his chopsticks down and raise his head again, hands lowered to his lap. Though Sora couldn't see his hands, he knew from familiarity that Riku would have them folded into fists, unnaturally still.

"Are you sure this is okay, Sora?" Riku asked, not for the first time.

Sora sighed and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I've told you it's _fine,_ stop worrying so much."

"But…" If Riku had it in him, Sora was sure he'd be fiddling with everything his hands could reach. But, even as a kid he had the tendency to freeze when nervous, and that was how Sora recognized his growing anxiety. "Shouldn't we be training, or something like that?"

"That's what we've been doing for at least half a year. When was the last time you actually stopped to relax since the first time we left the Islands?"

Riku had to bite his lip then, blatantly lying, "I got some rest." 

"Seriously." Sora didn't bother phrasing it as a question, and rolling his eyes at this point was a must, so Sora did just that. Riku scrunched up his nose.

"Okay, I get what you mean, but we _are_ on a time limit here."

It was at times like these that Sora questioned if Riku ever let himself _stop_ for a moment. No wonder he always seemed like he was trying to catch his breath, and failing. While some of that was Sora's own fault (he shuddered as he remembered white pods and missing memories), he couldn't sit idly and let Riku stew in his misery. So he didn't.

Sora balanced himself on the palm of one hand and reached across the table to pinch Riku's cheek. His fingers were batted away before they could reach their target, but Sora wasn't deterred. Just as Riku thought he was safe, Sora pinched his nose instead. 

Riku laughed and whispered an indignant "ow!", while Sora smiled in triumph.

"Listen," Sora started, to get Riku's attention. "I get it, but one day won't be the cause of our deaths, okay?"

Riku winced then, and while Sora gave him an apologetic look, he didn't take his words back. He poked Riku again when he didn't move for a second.

"Don't say that," Riku admonished, voice quiet.

"You won't listen to anything that isn't blunt truth when you get like this, Riku."

Riku made a move to protest, but Sora raised his brows and immediately made him silent. He was probably reminiscing the many times where that had been exactly the case. At the end, he simply sighed.

"It just… Feels wrong," he admitted, "to be sitting here peacefully when Xehanort is out there doing who knows what."

Sora, for his part, didn't buy into it. It wasn't that he didn't _care_ , but also Sora doubted Xehanort would win over them for one day spent eating Chinese food.

"Well, it doesn't feel wrong at all to me," Sora said and attempted to poke Riku again, but his wrist was caught and held firmly in place.

"How so?"

"Because I'm with you!" Riku's grip went tighter around his wrist. "It can't be a waste of time if we're together."

They had already wasted so much time, both apart and together, with bitter and cruel words between them. They could have this now, and Sora was not letting go of it. He didn't say any of that, but he could tell Riku got it all the same. Best friend privilege.

"You know I can't fight against that logic," Riku grumbled, gently letting Sora's wrist go. He tapped it once before dropping it altogether. Riku stared at the tabletop, then, with a bashful smile, he looked up at Sora through his bangs. "That's a low blow."

Sora wanted to reach for him again, but he wasn't sure what for. Maybe to stretch Riku's smile wider, or to pat Riku's hair, still so soft looking after all these years. Riku was lucky they weren't sitting side by side, otherwise Sora would've kissed his cheek and then both of them would be embarrassed.

"It's supposed to be, so I can get through your thick head!" Riku, in a rare show of childishness, stuck his tongue out at him, and Sora replied in tandem. "And by the way, if you don't eat your food soon, I'm stealing it from you."

Riku pulled his bowl back protectively. "Don't even think about it."

Satisfied, Sora went back to his food, only to find his plate already empty. It slipped from his attention that he had finished it at some point during their conversation, so Sora slid down onto the table with a noise of disappointment. Riku, who was a cruel, cruel man, only snorted and kept on eating his own food.

"Here, you can have my fortune cookie." Riku pushed the package across the table as a peace offering.

"Really?!" Sora asked and snatched the cookie before Riku could go back on his word.

"Yeah, sure, I don't mind."

Sora held the cookie high above his head as he praised the food god, but was interrupted with a small kick to his shin. 

"Riku!"

Riku smirked. "Stop being embarrassing." 

Sora ripped the package open. "Never!" He said, and shoved the entire thing into his mouth.

"Sora, wait, the paper—"

Too late, Sora felt the taste of paper on his tongue and stuck it out in disgust, the half chewed food out for anyone to see.

"Oh my god, Sora…"

"Riku…" Sora whined.

"I'm not taking the paper out for you, do it yourself!" 

Grumbling to himself, Sora did as told and found the slip of paper amongst the mess of cookie in his mouth. Riku stared at him with disgust.

"At this point do I even want to know what it says?"

Sora stared at his fortune while chewing. "It's just some poetic, cryptic stuff."

Riku shrugged. "That's expected." Sora turned the paper around for Riku to read, and he squinted at it as he read, "'Aim high; the sky is your aim, the stars are your objective', huh… You got the poetic part correct."

"What does it even mean?" Sora crossed his arms and thought for a moment. "I guess I _am_ aiming pretty high, so it's probably right."

"It is just a random sentence in a cookie, it doesn't really have to mean anything," Riku said. After a pause, he conceded, "But I can see how it's accurate."

They both hummed thoughtfully, though Riku's was more apathetic than Sora's. He didn't seem as concerned by the fortune as Sora, who had his face scrunched up as he tried to make sense of it.

"Oh! Riku!" He almost shouted as a revelation came upon him.

Riku paused, noodles halfway to his mouth. "Yes?"

" _You_ are the stars!"

"...Huh?"

Sora slammed his palms down on the table with enthusiasm. "I think I get it now, the fortune! Listen, how many times have I been looking for you or trying to help you?" Riku grimaced. "Don't make that face. Besides, even before that I wanted to be like you, so you've always been my objective."

Riku opened and closed his mouth. Sora looked at him expectantly. When there was no answer, Sora continued, "You're my stars, Riku."

There was a splash as Riku's grip slacked and his noodles fell back into the bowl, the broth getting everywhere. Riku reached for a napkin and hurriedly patted at the wet spots with it without ever looking at Sora.

"Riku?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it startled Riku all the same. 

"Yeah! Stars. I'm… The stars." A pause. "In the metaphor! I mean, you know."

Sora stared at him, at a loss for words when seeing Riku so obviously flustered. As the silence grew more awkward, Riku shoved a ridiculous amount of noodles into his mouth, his cheeks so full it made him look like a hamster. He said something, but it was muffled by all the food.

"What?" Sora asked.

Riku shook his head. It was only then that Sora realized his ears were red, and a tilt of the head confirmed that his face suffered the same. Sora had never seen Riku blush, at least not since they were kids. It made his stomach fall, his palms sweat. It made him want to do… _Something._

Following his instincts was more Sora's thing than thinking things through, so he left his seat to drag his chair closer to Riku, scooting over until they were shoulder to shoulder. He touched Riku's arm, and he looked back at Sora.

"Your face is super red," Sora announced.

"Here to make fun of me?" Riku asked, with all the air of arrogance he used to have when teasing Sora, but it only made him sound… Vulnerable. Sora wondered how he'd never noticed that before.

"No." Sora thumbed at Riku's cheek, who flinched but didn't pull away. "Looks kinda cute."

Riku looked to the side. "Now you're definitely just teasing."

"I'm being honest."

Throat bobbing as he swallowed, Riku shook his head. "What are you doing, Sora?"

"I don't know."

Riku looked pained then and, gentle but with finality, he held Sora's hand away from himself. He made to pull back entirely, but Sora didn't let it happen, pushing himself forward. He thought of his fortune, written on a little slip of paper.

 _Aim high._ "You're pretty tall, right? At least taller than me," Sora said, and not without some bitterness. Even next to each other like this, Sora had look up at Riku.

"Huh?" Riku sounded as confused as he looked. "I guess? What does that have to do with—"

 _The sky is your aim._ "And your eyes are blue."

"Yes?"

He looked at Riku. The light that shone in the darkness. The star in the night sky. He smiled as he realized how fitting an analogy it was. It was such a terribly fond thing, to think how far Riku had come, how much he had done for Sora. He wasn't just any light, he was _Sora's_ light, the one that pulled him back every time, its gravity bringing him closer, sheltering him. 

By the time his lips touched the corner of Riku's, he was too far in his own thoughts to realize what he was doing. But this felt right, somehow; the touch of Riku's skin fit his, like it belonged. Sora kissed him like he would when they were much younger and Riku was being nice as always: lips pursed and eyes squeezed tightly closed. His hands looked for Riku's, but clutched his arms when that was the first thing they found.

When he pulled away, Riku looked uncertain, guarded. It almost ripped an apology from Sora right there.

"Are you sure about this?" Riku whispered.

"About you? Always."

"That's not—"

Before Riku could overthink it further, Sora pulled on the strands of hair that framed his face, encouraging him to lower his head so Sora could kiss the tip of his nose with a giggle.

"At least kiss me properly, doofus," Riku complained, but went even redder on the cheeks.

"Greedy," Sora shot back.

Rikue sighed and held Sora's jaw with a hand, his fingers splayed on his cheeks. "Pretty please?"

Sora giggled again and hugged Riku, bumping their noses together. "That's a low blow."

Riku didn't reply right away, too busy pushing their faces together so their lips touched properly this time. Sora laughed out right, and Riku nipped his cheek in retaliation.

"It's supposed to be, so I can get through your thick head," Riku said, echoing Sora.

"Your head is thicker," Sora said and kissed Riku, if only so he wouldn't have the time to reply.

Maybe the fortune cookie was right: Riku _did_ taste like starlight.

**Author's Note:**

> "But Riku's eyes are green now" "When would they even have time to visit San Fransokyo?"  
> Canon is whatever I want it to be
> 
> I'm always open for chatting over at [Tumblr](https://mamichigo.tumblr.com) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ma_michigo)!


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